Hydrocarbon resources present significant technical and economic recovery challenges due to formation of emulsions during recovery and processing. The resultant emulsions may be, for example, oil-in-water, water-in-oil phase configurations or a combination thereof. The emulsions can be complex, and may include solids (e.g., fines), organic and inorganic species, and emulsion stabilizing species. Also, to the extent that gases may be among the produced hydrocarbons, some emulsions may also include a gas phase.
To maximize oil production and to also maximize the volume of clean water which may be either disposed of or recycled, it is important to effectively separate or “break” the emulsions. A number of approaches to breaking emulsions have been recognized within the industry, examples of which include the use of chemicals (e.g., altering surface tension characteristics), thermal techniques (e.g., modulating heat), mechanical techniques (e.g., modulating residence time), and electrical techniques (e.g., providing electrostatic grids).
Although the present approaches facilitate some degree of resolution of the emulsions, there continues to be a need for more effective and economically feasible emulsion breaking techniques to improve the economical performance of hydrocarbon recovery, improve process robustness and stability, and provide an economical method of debottlenecking existing facilities.